That meant the RailRiders simply couldn’t make enough history to get an elusive win against the Tides on Thursday night.

The RailRiders overcame an eight-run deficit to take the lead into the ninth inning, but the Tides scored five times against reliever Pat Venditte to secure another slugfest victory, 13-9, at PNC Field.

In the three games in this series, the RailRiders have scored 22 runs and lost all three games. For the second time, they let a one-run lead slip away in the ninth inning. For the first time since May 17, they fell a game below .500.

None of it was for lack of effort — or, as has been the case every night the last few weeks, offense.

“They guys battled back, took the lead and gave us a chance to win it,” frustrated skipper Dave Miley said. “We just didn’t get it done. I don’t know what else to tell you.”

Norfolk battered starter Shane Greene for five runs in the first inning, stringing three straight singles from Francisco Peguero, Brett Wallace and red-hot Steve Clevenger against the hard-throwing right-hander before Buck Britton deposited a fastball into the bar beyond the right field wall to make it 5-0.

Making matters worse, Greene was no better in the second, allowing Clevenger’s two-run double that capped a three-run inning. He’d be done pitching, having allowed eight runs on 10 hits in three innings before the RailRiders even managed to get a hit.

Once the RailRiders started hitting, though, they stayed just as hot as the Tides started.

The first hit came against right-hander Suk-min Yoon, a long three-run homer for Zoilo Almonte that cut the lead to 8-3 in the third. By the time the fifth inning was complete, the RailRiders actually had the lead.

Zelous Wheeler doubled and Francisco Arcia ripped hits to start the fourth, then Corban Joseph and Jose Pirela brought them home with singles to make it 8-5 in the fourth.

The fifth inning was the RailRiders’ biggest. Yoon allowed singles to Almonte and Wheeler before lefty Nick Additon came on. Arcia greeted him with a sharp grounder through the middle that brought in Almonte. Russ Canzler extended his 10-game hitting streak with a line drive double to right-center that got the RailRiders within one.

Antoan Richardson had the biggest hit two batters later. He punched a single to left that brought Arcia and Canzler around for a 9-8 lead, and suddenly, the Red Barons had their eyes on history.

Hold it, and they would tie the record for the biggest comeback in franchise history with the eight-run comeback they staged to beat Buffalo, 10-9, on Aug. 23, 2000. They already had extended their streak of games in which they scored five runs or more to 11 — far and away the longest such streak since at least 2005.

The comeback would not stand, though.

Venditte started the ninth after cruising through the eighth, the fourth straight scorless inning the RailRiders relievers posted. Five of the eight batters lefty Francisco Rondon faced in the fourth and fifth innings went to 3-0 counts, but he pitched out of two jams. Righty Preston Claiborne had nothing but minor blips — a hit and a walk — in the sixth and seventh. And now, the RailRiders were three outs away from a dramatic statement.

But Clevenger beat out an infield single. Chris Marrero grounded one to center. Britton, fouling off strike after strike from Venditte during an 11-pitch at-bat, walked.

“I would’ve liked to have gotten him out,” Venditte said. “It was a tough at-bat, and I tried everything I had. Sliders. Fastballs up in the zone. I didn’t try a change-up, but in that situation, I’m not going to get beat with my third-best pitch. I need that strike there, though. There’s no excuse for walking him.”

Then the RBIs started coming. One on a single by Cord Phelps. The next on another by Pedro Borbon. Ivan DeJesus and Peguero added some insurance before Canzler came in to record the final two outs in his first professional pitching appearance.

The promise of history got suffocated under another Tides avalanche of hits. Another night. Another offensive outburst for the RailRiders.

Another loss despite it.

“They’re good hitters,” Venditte said. “They’ve taken the ball the other way. They’ve gone with pitches. They are hot. But tonight was the night to end that hotness. And we didn’t get it done in the ninth inning.”

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